Oral squamous cell carcinoma in an underage patient

Abstract

To delve into the knowledge of tongue cancer in young patients. Case: We presented a 17 years-old female, without tobacco and alcohol exposure, referred to Oral and Maxillofacial department with a squamous cell carcinoma in the ton- gue with bilateral cervical metastasis. We decided, in a multidisciplinary team, to treat her with chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy. She had two local recurrences 5 and 12 months after the treatment which we treated with surgery both. Afher that, we follow her every month and she is without recurrences. Several reports suggest increasing incidence trends of head and neck cancer in young patients, disproportional to the patients above 45 years old. Moreover, the majo- rity of young non-smoking non-drinking head and neck cancer patients is female. This disparity suggests that the pathogenesis of head and neck cancer in young patients differs from head and neck cancer development in old patients. Conclusion: The unique epidemiologic, genetic, etiologic, and clinicopatho- logic characteristics of young-onset HNSCC suggests a divergent biology from HNSCC oc- curring in older patients. Improved definition of this biology is needed to establish suc- cessful preventive and treatment de intensification efforts.